Non-Playing Character Ideas and Archetypes for a Dystopic Future
Here are some archetypes that fit into almost any gaming environment as Non-Playing Characters. These character can be easily generated and inserted to form adventures unto themselves and lead into other adventures.'' - Brett Waste'' Little Girl This little girl is 6 years old but appears to be unable to speak. However, secretly she is an expert lip reader and can express herself more than adequately through sign language and using computer aides. Hence she can easily relay the information to a third party from characters who otherwise think she is both deaf and dumb, which she will pretend being. There is only a 1 in 6 chance of tricking this young girl into revealing the fact that she can either speak, hear, read or write. This can be tried once per round but she will resist such attempts and these attempts are likely to be seen as an annoyance to the child that will be stopped by others who see it occurring - especially responsible adults.'' - Brett Waste'' The Small Boy This little boy is 7 years old. He is armed with a catapult slingshot (1d4 hp) and a can of soda he can blind with (-4 'to hit' for one round) by spritzing in the eyes of an opponent. He is lively and loves to swap stories – he can be relied upon for 1d3 rumours a week in urban areas, 0-1 which will be false. He forages at 125% in wilderness settings. He has a +2 DEX attribute bonus upon generation before age affects. He Picks Pockets like a thief at (DEX x level)% skill level.'' - Brett Waste'' The Gambler The gambler is either spending his space trip or journey on leisure through gambling or by betting against the House to fund his trip while fleecing other passengers. Gamblers have a base (INT x 5)% - House Percentage chance of winning a bet. Easy games are at -5% House mod. while harder games are -30% House Percentage. Gamblers each start with a single plastic, undetectable pistol, fully-loaded and 100 gold pieces in 2014 AD dollars.'' - Brett Waste'' The Stowaway (hidden traveller) The stowaway must be hidden somewhere on the craft and may inadvertantly blamed for things going wrong on the mission. They are traditionally seen as bad luck by farers and bad economics by merchants. Hence if they are discovered they will either be ejected, marooned, or press-ganged into work to Pay for their Passage (Working Passage). Stowaways will hide in 1-2 Fuel; 3-4 Power Plant; 5 Common Room; 6 Amenities; 7-8 Cargo and be consigned to working in these areas on a similar 1d6 dice roll if discovered for no pay doing lowly duties.'' - Brett Waste'' Terrorists and Hijackers 50% of all hijackers will have a cover identity among crew or passengers while the other half will be stowaways and hidden on the craft somewhere. Terrorists and hijackers will hide in 1-2 Fuel; 3-4 Power Plant; 5 Common Room; 6 Amenities; 7-8 Cargo and target the area of a second area, perhaps the area they are concealed in (suicide bombers). Terrorists tend to want to destroy the craft or kill the crew and passengers while hijackers intend to take over the craft and replace the crew and rob the passengers and sell the craft.'' - Brett Waste'' Hitch-hikers, marooned, ship-wrecked crew or passengers. These crew or passengers have had their craft wrecked and are surviving on land, sea or space waiting to be picked up. The conditions of their encampment will be strictly dictated by the environment and equipment and may be extremely minimal to desperate. Generally by the laws of transport, travellers must render aid to such victims such as rescue or provisions or transport. Some of these marooned crews may be differently aligned, escaped convicts or pirates that themselves have become marooned. Some may be aliens, animals or cannibals.'' - Brett Waste''